Father Schmitz served God and country

Father Michael D. Schmitz was distinguished in his commitment to God and the United States.

After a career in the Air Force, he turned to the priesthood.

“I served our country for 30 years,” he had said, “and I hoped and prayed to serve the Lord for 30 more years.”

His priestly ministry ended slightly shy of that prayer, with his death on Sept. 9 at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. He was 79.

Services included a Sept. 15 wake service and a Sept. 16 funeral Mass, both at St. Rose of Lima Church in Crofton. He was to be buried Sept. 19 in Calvary Cemetery in Currie, Minnesota, where he grew up.

Military honors were to be provided by American Legion Post 128 and Offutt Air Force Base Honor Guard.

Father Schmitz was born in Slayton, Minnesota, to the late Leo and Elizabeth Schmitz. In 1964, he graduated from Immaculate Heart of Mary High School in Currie.

Two years later, he joined the Air Force, serving in Homestead, Florida; Bitburg, Germany; Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue; Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Vietnam; and at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. His duties varied: office management, target intelligence, weather operations, and on detail with presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford on Air Force One.

After his discharge, he worked at Valentino’s restaurant in Lincoln and at Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt as a computer flight planner.

Then Father Schmitz answered a call to the priesthood, entering the seminary in 1990. He graduated from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee with a bachelor’s degree in religious studies in 1994 and from Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, in 1996 with a master of divinity degree.

He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss in 1996. He served as an associate pastor at St. Isidore Parish in Columbus and St. Gerald in Ralston before becoming pastor of St. John the Baptist in Fordyce, St. Boniface in Menominee and St. Joseph in Constance, then of St. Andrew in Bloomfield and St. Rose of Lima in Crofton.

Father Schmitz was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Veterans of Foreign Wars, AmVets, the American Legion, the Catholic Order of Foresters and the Air Force Sergeants Association.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a stillborn brother, Richard; sisters Diane Dose and Teresa Schmitz; sister-in-law, Arlene Schmitz; and brother-in-law Bob Mandelkow.

Survivors include his brother, Donald Schmitz of Slayton, Minnesota; sisters Donna (Vernon) Bass of Okabena, Minnesota, Laurie Mandelkow of Red Wing, Minnesota and Marilyn (Leonard) Boerboom of Green Bay, Wisconsin; brother-in-law Donald Dose of Elgin, Minnesota; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorials were directed to Crofton organizations: St. Rose of Lima Church, St. Rose of Lima School, Crofton Knights of Columbus and Crofton Bluejays.